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Dispatch #3 from Rwanda
Wow! Can't believe how quickly time is passing. I've
finished my 3rd week here in Rwanda. First off, to let
those of you know who have asked...I feel safe here. The
Iraq war has not had any impact here except as a topic
of conversation. Most of the people I've spoken to
here (Americans, Rwandans etc) think this war is being
led by a "peabrain" ie. Bush and that the Americans
should not have acted. In any case, I'm safe here and
have 24/7 access to CNN (as long as there's power and
it does go out every now and then together with my
water supply!) and of course my shortwave radio. Honestly, I'm sick of what is passing as "journalism"—to me it's simply cheerleading. Even CNN
International which is what I get here only has
"pretty" pictures...no context, no analysis, no nothing.
It's quite upsetting actually. OK, I've finished my
rant!
For me, what I'm keeping my eye on is the situation in
Congo and the possibility that Uganda and Rwanda will
start at it. I'm still trying to get a good grasp on
the region's politics. What I have been told is that
Uganda continues to piss off Rwanda (and vice versa, I
imagine), which really is kind of bizarre because
Rwanda's President (Kagame) was raised in Uganda and
served as that country's security or defense minister.
It's been a busy week. Did some teaching and had students come to see me several evenings to chat. Then
a day off during which I spent my time shopping and
banking. Then spent the past couple days in the
capital, Kigali. Ines had arranged several meetings (with TV and Radio Rwanda). I registered at the
Canadian and American embassies then off to the meetings. There is only one TV station and one radio
station here (effectively run by the government). The idea behind the meetings was to see what, if any,
training they might be interested in. Our first stop was radio where I felt we were greeted somewhat
lukewarmly. My guess is they've had various organizations do training; they themselves suggested
TV was more in need of training. So, off we set for
TVR. Had a short meeting with the director there and a
quick tour. I was surprised to see they use beta and
have a couple edit suites, but I didn't see any
computers and the reporters were working off of
handwritten scripts. We finally decided that I would
spend a couple days in April (after the genocide
remembrance week) to familiarize myself with the
station's operations and figure out what I could do to
help...likely it will be a lot of one on one coaching.
Also ran into the editor of "The New Times", the
bi-weekly (tho I've only seen it once a week)
newspaper that basically serves as the government's
mouthpiece. He was the most enthusiastic of the 3
editors I met, and this was a spontaneous meeting!
After a few minutes chatting, he realized I also had
print experience so he decided that I should help the
paper with its political coverage. There is a
referendum here in May and then the first "real"
elections are to take place in July (tho I've heard
these may not happen till November). In any case,
looks like I'll be doing some work with the paper as
well which I'm excited about.
Ok, so back to my time in Kigali. The two hour ride
north from Butare on a tiny strip of road is fraught
with danger. No, not militias and roadblocks, but
pedestrians, bicycles loaded down with sacks of coal,
oncoming traffic and the ubiquitous potholes that
brought our "minivan" to a screeching halt time and
time again so that we could bump slowly thru these 2
foot holes without causing any more damage than
necessary to the vehicle. It really is quite scary and
there are no seatbelts (except for the driver of
course!!). On the way back went by a couple horrible
looking accidents. Yup, this for me is pretty hardcore
and calls upon all of my courage just to shut up and
hang on (and pray a helluva lot!!). Guess I've had
some preparation for this with me years in Italy and
the Middle East, but honestly, this is really the most
hair-raising yet.
Kigali is a big, dusty city perched upon the tops of
hills and sprawls across and down the hillsides and
into several valleys. There are a couple streetlights,
which brought a smile to my face. Also a few nicely
landscaped roundabouts with statues and gardens in the
center of them. But of course you're so focused on the
traffic all around you it's hard to focus on anything
else. Don't misunderstand me, it's not that there are
that many vehicles here, it's just they seem to all
find each other at the same time!
Highlights of Kigali? Well, definitely number one was
a business lunch I had at a fabulous Indian (and
Middle Eastern) restaurant. Had some of the best
hummous I'd ever had and a great coconut curry with
naan. How great is that to be able to have Indian food
in Africa?? Also, popped into a couple supermarkets!
Found some Rwandan peanut butter (crunchy, no
additives!!) and Rwandan goat cheese which is pretty
good. Found the equivalent of the Rwandan Wal-Mart
which was also a hoot! Most of the stuff seemed to
come from Dubai or China. Also went into a number of
handicraft stores and grabbed a few things including a
beautiful little candle holder, some big anklet things
with jingle-type bells on them which the dancers wear
and a couple other things.
Wednesday early am I was awoken by a rumble
and the building shaking....turns out it was an
earthquake....scared the crap out of me. I looked at my
watch - 3am (8pm et) - Bush's "deadline"....and to be
woken by an earthquake at that precise time was kind
of strange.
Michelle
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